Families in imminent danger of losing their homes will get a reprieve this holiday season.

Some of the nation’s largest lenders, including Wells Fargo and government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will suspend evictions and, in some cases, foreclosure sales, from around mid-December until early January.

A Bank of America spokesman said company policy is to avoid displacing some residents during the holidays.

Multiple media outlets have also reported JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup Inc. have holiday holds on foreclosed home expulsions.

Smaller banks, such as Gaston-based Belmont Federal Savings & Loan, might not have official policies on foreclosure around the holidays but they aren’t likely to put a family out during the season.

Belmont Federal wouldn’t start a foreclosure this close to Christmas, said President Michael Anthony.

The temporary Christmas present is not a new move for the country’s largest mortgage holders, who began implementing the policies around 2010 as effects of the foreclosure crisis lingered in the U.S.

Nor will it freeze the actual foreclosure process in most cases. Firms that handle the legal filings will continue to file the paperwork.

Freddie Mac indicated as much in a statement this week, saying default notices would continue to appear so normal foreclosure operations could resume after Jan. 2.

New Year foreclosures in Gaston County point to pent up processes that unleashed a slew of home repossessions in January of the last two years.

In December 2010, Gaston residents lost 26 local homes to foreclosures.

The next month, January 2011, that number nearly doubled to 50.

A year later, December’s 36 foreclosures gave way to 63 the next month.

The details

Fannie Mae said it will not evict homeowners or tenants as the result of foreclosure Dec. 19 through Jan. 2.

Freddie Mac will suspend “eviction lockouts” on its REO homes for two full weeks, from Dec. 17 through Jan. 2. That won’t affect people who were locked out of their homes immediately prior to the freeze.

Wells Fargo will halt evictions and foreclosure sales for mortgage defaulters who still live in their homes, the bank said Wednesday. That stays in effect Dec. 19 through Jan. 2.

Bank of America “follows the guidance of mortgage investors,” in determining how to handle holiday evictions and foreclosure sales, said a spokesman.

For the loans the bank owns and for investors who do not ask the bank to act otherwise, the policy is to avoid evicting residents or completing sales around the holiday.

The bank did not offer specific dates but said the bulk of its loans are owned by mortgage investors, who can make the decision about moving forward with Christmas-time evictions.